Unbreakable iPhone 5S / iPhone 6 Hinted by Bizarre Patent Filing

If we’re not destined to be served up a cheap iPhone 5S anytime soon, how about an iPhone that if nothing else promises cheaper Smartphone insurance? Admittedly not a deal-breaker for most, but that’s exactly what the next iPhone release date could bring – if reading between the lines and putting your own spin on the subject.

Let me explain – this week saw an Apple patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which carried the catchy title of a “Protective Mechanism for and Electronic device.” As far as specs and features go this doesn’t sound the most exciting, but what it basically refers to is a couple of new ideas that could prevent the iPhone 5S or iPhone from crapping-out altogether if dropped.

One of the methods in particular caught our attention, which basically involves the use of some kind of implant that would make the iPhone able to detect the speed of its fall and in which direction it was travelling, so as to correct its position mid-flight and summarily land on a specifically reinforced side.

An iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 that moves on its own in the air – now that’s really about as weird and almost disturbing as it gets.

How would it manage this? Well, one theory is that it could be loaded with a tiny canister of gas that basically blast out a jet and flips the iPhone to avoid breaking the screen in particular.

Yeah…we’re finding this one a little hard to swallow too.

Here’s how the patent application itself refers to the idea:

“In one example, the protective mechanism is configured to alter the device orientation as the device is falling. This may allow a less vulnerable portion of the device to impact the surface at the end of a freefall. For example, the protective mechanism may be activated to rotate the device so that it may impact a surface on its edge, rather than on a screen portion.

“In another method, the descent of a falling iPhone could actually be slowed, almost like a parachute slows the descent of a skydiver. To pull off this trick, the protective mechanism would trigger an airfoil that would lessen the velocity of the device and cushion the blow once it reaches the ground.”

It all sounds very exciting and an intelligent iPhone that protected itself would surely be an insurer’s dream – cheap policies being a given. However, are we looking at a situation where proud iPhone 6 owners will have to totter on down to their local Apple stores to recharge said mini-canister of gas every time their iPhone falls off the couch?

Exciting and interesting yes, but as far as feasibility goes – probably not in this lifetime.

And as a certain genius pointed out to me yesterday – wouldn’t it be a better idea to just invest in screens that aren’t so pathetically breakable in the first place?